Hutchison: Constantine ‘responsible for the mess we’re in’

King County’s next executive will take office at a time when the county’s ability to deliver basic services like law enforcement, public health and human services is under severe pressure. Huge projected deficits stretch out for years. Candidate Susan Hutchison says the only way to fix the situation is to change leadership.

Hutchison

She says her opponent, County Council Chairman Dow Constantine, is “largely responsible for the mess that we’re in.” Hutchison, the former television broadcaster, accuses her Democratic opponent of being “super partisan.” Hutchison, who said she decided to run for the top job only after voters made county-wide offices officially non-partisan, has been described by Constantine as a stealth Republican out of step with the area’s liberal values, and business interests are helping to pay for last-minute attack ads against Constantine.

Hutchison, who leads in the most recent polling, sat down with seattlepi.com Monday at a University Village coffee shop to discuss the race, why she believes she’ll unite the troubled county, her criticism of preparations for possible severe flooding, and why it would be better to put light rail on the state Route 520 bridge as opposed to Interstate 90.

What follows in edited transcript of the interview.

The next executive will be facing huge budget deficits, possible severe flooding in south King County and the potential for a big return of swine flu. Beyond the pressing emergencies, what would you want to accomplish over the next four years?

My overriding goal is to move county government into healthy fiscal management.

You’ve suggested that the voter-approved light-rail expansion over Interstate 90 to the Eastside should instead go over the 520 bridge. That could require another vote and could be more expensive because work has begun on the I-90 route. Why do you think 520 is better than I-90?

I don’t want to delay and I don’t believe we need another vote. And so I support getting light rail built as quickly as we can, on time and on budget to the Eastside, and I’ve said that many times on the campaign trail. In our goal, to reduce traffic congestion, we need to be focused on that east-west corridor, where the commuters are.

And so, if we can get people out of their cars onto light rail to go to and from work, we will have accomplished a very good thing with light rail. Eventually, years from now, we’ll be looking at many routes across the lake. I certainly don’t want to turn back the clock. We have to keep moving forward.

What makes I-90 unworkable for you? Your critics say you’ve taken the same position as light-rail foes such as Kemper Freeman who have paid for attack ads against your opponent.

I have not talked to Kemper Freeman about light rail, or light rail on I-90. We’ve never had the discussion. I think it’s important for us to be able to talk about ideas, talk about ways to accomplish goals, that bring alternatives into the realm of public discussion.

For example, the deep-bored tunnel was not even on the radar screen in 2002 when we began to talk about the alternatives and opportunities to replace the Alaskan Way Viaduct. It was only in recent years that both the technology and the cost savings of making the deep-bored tunnel a single bore instead of double bore, and saving almost a billion dollars in the cost, made it possible for us to advance that idea. But again, my belief is that we need lots of good thinking, because all of these issues are complex and important.

What’s your main concern about putting light rail on I-90?

I-90 is our east-west route for freight and it’s our key thoroughfare. As we move forward with plans on I-90 we want to make sure that we provide for the ability of cars and trucks to keep moving.

Let’s talk about flooding. You’ve been critical of the county’s preparations for a possible inundation in south King County. What specifically haven’t they done well and what would you have done differently?

They didn’t get started soon enough. They didn’t take a leadership role. It’s clearly on the shoulders of the county to lead in this regard. We have a number of different agencies all doing what they are responsible for. We’ve got the Army Corps, we’ve got FEMA, we’ve got our individual municipalities. What we needed months and months ago was leadership at the county.

And if we had been speaking for the people of the county, in other words the thousands of businesses and the 30,000 residents (in the floodplain), then surely we would have moved from emergency preparedness to prevention. Because the pending disaster is so great. I’m deeply concerned about what’s already happened with the plummeting of property values, with people moving out of apartments and leaving landlords in the lurch. Young couples having to take out flood insurance, which is expensive, to rent storage lockers to put all of their things in storage lockers for the winter.

These are expenses from the small to the large. As you know the Boeing Co. has spent $23 million to berm its critical buildings. Well, it’s worth it to them to protect their investment. When you think that this disaster could cause in the area of $4 billion a flood — in other words, we could have floods multiple times in a year, $4 billion, and what it does for the future of that area, we should be doing everything we can, working through all the jurisdictional channels to get the money we need and to build up those perilous levies.

Let’s talk about the county’s financial situation. The deficit is bad this year. It gets worse going forward. The county is at the point now where you could cut the entire County Council, the entire executive’s office, all public-health spending and still have to make cuts to public safety. How do you address that? You can’t cut your way out of this problem.

As I’ve said many times, the first thing we have to do is zero-based budgeting, which determines the cost of our essential services and builds from there. It’s bottom-up budgeting. It’s a tough exercise. It’s what corporations do when they find themselves in financial stress, and it’s absolutely essential for us to be able to pay for our priorities.

And of course we’re going to make those tough, hard cuts and we’re going to partner with the unions. We cannot do it without the partnership with the unions, that’s why I’m going to have a union liaison. We have to partner to adjust to the current economic realities.

Beyond that, I also believe that if we work in this county for the economic turnaround, that is possible by making policies that help our small businesses survive and thrive, which of course also means that our big businesses will survive and thrive. When our consumers have confidence that they can spend again, then we get the tax revenues we need in order to provide the services that the county must provide. So it’s both sides of the ledger.

Would you go to Olympia to ask for more taxing flexibility or for a change in how counties collect taxes? Counties across the state complain that they don’t have the tools that cities have to adjust to changing times, and at the same time their expenses are going up and revenues are going down.

I think it is the role of the county executive to advocate for the people of this county at the state level and the federal levy. There’s no question that our taxation policy is extremely complex. It’s hard on every county in the state. I do think that there’s concern in the Legislature and there has been for some time about meeting the needs of the citizens with our current policies.

And so I will work with Olympia to make sure that we do whatever we can in order to meet the promises that we make to our taxpayers, and it’s on both sides of the ledger, like I said. Part of it is taxation and regulatory policies that allows businesses to thrive so that they can provide jobs, which fuels the economy, which fuels revenues. We need a wake-up call in Olympia recognizing how intricately involved our policies toward business are in the end result of healthy tax revenues.

You talk about having a liaison to work with the county’s labor unions. Considering the severity of the county’s fiscal crisis, would you consider asking the unions to reopen contracts and renegotiate existing labor deals?

We will start talking immediately. And that’s the only way.

Is anything off the table?

We have to adjust to the current economic realities. Union leadership is smart, professional and working hard for their members. And they understand, they know what’s going on in the county. They also see what’s happening in the private sector. They see what’s happening in the private sector with salaries, with benefits. And so I look forward to the opportunity to meet with union leadership and work on these problems together. I have a very optimistic view of what we can accomplish.

What’s the biggest difference between you and your opponent?

The big difference between Dow Constantine and Susan Hutchison is he has been the chair of the King County Council, the budget chair, and is largely responsible for the mess that we’re in, which is the result of excess spending, mismanagement of county government and unsustainable county budgets. His experience has led to this failure that we’re dealing with now.

My experience is community-oriented, business-oriented, non-profit experience as the head of a $100 million foundation. I’ve been an adjunct professor in the evening MBA program at a major university in Seattle. I’ve worked with civic organizations throughout the region for almost 30 years. As head of the foundation I’ve worked with our grantees on their strategic plans, building their boards, working with them on their financials, helping them be successful.

I serve on a number of national boards. I’m on the Air and Space Museum board with the head of Airbus USA and the head of Boeing Commercial. I’m on the Woodrow Wilson Center board, and as finance chair I work with the congressional subcommittee that funds part of the budget for the Woodrow Wilson Center.

I’ve had a number of civic appointments. I believe my experience is broad, it represents our citizens and my leadership opportunities. I’ve been part of a turnaround at a major institution, the Seattle Symphony. My opponent has no turnaround experience and I do.

This is ostensibly a nonpartisan race. But it has seemed very partisan at times. Mr. Constantine has pointed to your connections with Republican candidates and causes. He has been portrayed as a typical tax-and-spend Democrat. Do you think the move to nonpartisan county-wide elections has accomplished its ultimate goal: removing partisanship?

My opponent is a super partisan. And I think that’s obvious when you look at his support. I have committed, from the time I entered this campaign, to run a fiercely nonpartisan campaign. And I have done so and I have the support of some of the most respected elected officials from both sides of the aisle.

My administration will be bipartisan and nonpartisan. And we will get the job done because the way I do things is by bringing people together to solve problems. You cannot divide people the way my opponent does when you’re trying to solve problems. You unify people, you have common goals, and you pursue those goals in order to make this county a better place to live and work.